Mail or express car



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No. 517,234. Patented Mar. 27, 1894.

' 2 Sheets-v-Sheet 2. Mmm W. D. PATTERSON. MAIL 0R EXPRESS CAR. No. 517,234. Patented Mar. 27, 1894.V

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Nrrnn Stearns WILLIAM D. PATTERSON, OF KEOKUK, IOWA.

MAIL OR EXPRESS CAR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No.517,234, dated March 27, 1894.

(No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM D. PATTERSON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Keokuk, in the county of Lee and State of Iowa, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Railway Mail or Express Oars, of which the following is a specification.

My invention has relation to railroad cars adapted for the transportation of mail matter and valuables in general; and in such connection it relates more particularly to the provision of such cars with apartments having vaults for the reception and safe transportation of valuables, money, mail matter or the like, against the depredations of bandits or outlaws.

The principal objects of my invention are first, t0 provide a railroad car with a simple, comparatively inexpensive, durable and safe apartment for a sentinel to be stationed and with a vault connected therewith for the reception of valuables, whereby a practicably impregnable barrier is presented to the depredations of a class of outlaws or bandits that have become known as express and mail train robbers; and second, to provide a railroad mail and money transportation car with a compact burglar proof apartment having a vault and mounted in the car so as to permit of ready access being had to the interior thereof and room afforded for passage along and around the apartment for entering the same and having suitable ventilators and loopholes and internal appliances to enable a sentinel or guard on watch therein to be prepared for any emergency that may arise and with tire-arms or the like so disposed and supported therein as to permit of their use 'when occasion arises through internally closed loopholes of the apartment, the construction and arrangement being such as to render destruction of the apartment impossible or access to the interior exceedingly difcult.

My invention consists of the improvements hereinafter described and claimed.

The nature and general features of my invention will be more fully understood from the following description taken in `connection with the accompanying drawings forming 5o part hereof, and in which rior thereof with a burglar proof apartment in the form of a cage and having a vault connected therewith and the same embodying features of my invention. Fig. 2, is a horizontal section on the line w:, of Fig. l. Fig. 3, is a vertical transverse section of a slightly modified form of a burglar proof apartment for a mail and express car for the transportation of valuables, with a vault and showing the internal construction and arrangement of the same; and Fig. 4, is a horizontal sectional view on the line yy, of Fig. 3.

Referring to the drawings A, represents the car of any general construction and arrangement now in use for the transportation of mail matter, valuables and the like mounted.

on trucks provided with wheels adapted to travel over or along rails.

B, as illustrated in Fig. I, is the shell of the burglar proof apartment or chamber, which in this instance is in the form somewhat of a cage and constructed of iron, steel or other strong impenetrable material and having a contracted top b, with radial apertures b', eX- tending therethrough and with a throat or stem b2, engaging with a cross-bar b3, from the interior of the car from the top thereof and for supporting said cage rmly to position.

b4, is a contracted hollow stem with a circular standard b5.

h6, is a shield engaging with the exterior surface of the shell B, about the apertures Z9', and surrounding the same in such manner as not to retard the free escape of air or gases from the interior of the chamber.

c, is a series of loop or sight holes extending through the wall of the chamber B, and closed by means of plug-stops or flaps c', from the inside of the chamber in any secure manner.

CZ, is an entrance door to the interior of the chamber B, provided with a swinging bar engaging with the inside surface of the door and adapted to be operated so as to engage with the wall on each side of the door for firmly holding the same closed and so as to prevent the opening thereof from the outside of the shell B.

c, is a seat iixed or suitably connected with an internal platform B', forming the top of the vault B2, of any suitable construction or arrangement in the base portion of the shell IOO B, and to which platform is hinged a door B3, provided with a combination or other lock 57, as illustrated in Fig. 1, in order that valuables deposited in the vault B2, can only with considerable difficulty be secured therefrom unless the required combination of the lock is known to release the door in its locked condition.

The apartment as illustrated in Fig. 3,which 1n form as to the body portion thereof is square and having a contracted top and a somewhat simiiar bottom, secured at the top to the interior frame-work of the car and at the bottom to the iioor of the carA, and with a series of apertures b', in the contracted top for Ventilating purposes and permitting of the escape of any vitiated or foul air or gas from the interior of the apartment B.

f, is a lantern or other illuminating appliance supported from a hook f', from the top of the apartment B. The series of loop holes c, in this View are provided with sliding caps or covers c.

g, are racks and g', are shelves for receiving and supporting to position firearms, such as ries g2, adapted when occasion requires to be inserted through certain of the series of loop holes c, upon raising the caps or covers c', thereof. rl`he hinged door d, in this view for gaining an entrance to and exit from the interior of the chamber or apartment B, is

locked or secured from the inside by means of sliding or swinging bars, rods or similar devices connected therewith and so arranged as that when the guard or sentinel is stationed in the apartment, access to the apartment is practically prevented Without destroying the shell thereof.

The valuables or mail matter to be safely transported, having been deposited in the vault B2, of the apartment, a guard is placed in the interior of the chamber or apartment B, and in the event of any attempt to burglarize the car such guard is in every way by the construction and arrangement of such internal apartment in the car fortified against the depredations of the outlaws or bandits and in a position by means of the loop or sight holes in the wall of the apartment to attack and repel the desperadoes.

Having thus described the nature and objects of my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, isn

l. The combination, with a railroad car, of a burglar proof apartment with a contracted top having radial openings extending therethrough and with a throat or stem engaging a cross-bar at the top cf the car and the bottom contracted and having a stem engaging a circular base to firmly support the body of said apartment to position and provided with loop or peep-holes, a vault in the lower, part of said car, a door for permitting of access being had to the interior of said apartment and means connected with said door and operated from the inside for locking the same, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

2. The combination, with a railroad car, of a burglar proof apartment contracted at the top and bottom and provided with stems engaging at the bottom in a standard or base secured to the floor of the car and at the top in the bearing of a cross-bar secured to the contracted portion of the car, a vault in the contracted lower part of the car and provided with a door having means for securing the same, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

3. The combination, with a railroad car, of a burglar proof apartment contracted at the top and bottom and provided with supporting stems engaging at the top with the bearing of a cross-bar of the car and at the bottom engaging the socket of a standard secured to the door of the car, the car provided with an entrance door having a locking device connected therewith and operating froln the inside, loop-holes extending through the wall of said apartment and provided with plug stops or aps, a vault in the lower part of said apartment and provided with a door having a locking device, and ventilators or apertures in the top of said apartment, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

4. The combination, with a railroad car, of a burglar proof apartment or cage with radial apertures in the top thereof and with top and bottom supporting stems, whereof one engages the bearing of a cross-bar and whereof the other engages the socket of a standard secured to the floor of the car, a door in the wall of said apartment adapted to be looked from the inside thereof, loop-holes arranged around and extending through the wall of said apartment with caps or stops for closing the same from the inside, racks and shelves for the reception of fire-arms, a seat and a vault in the bottom of said apartment provided with a door having means for securing the same, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my signature inthe presence of two subscribing witnesses.

WILLIAM D. PATTERSON. Vitnesses:

J. C. PARROTT, R. M. MARSHALL.

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